Visiting Faculty

Eiko Otake 

DR300 Naked and Delicious: State of Being

Cornerstone
(719)389-6637

For more than fifteen years Eiko & Koma have created and presented site-adaptable performance installations at dozens of sites for almost 35,000 audience members. Since 2009, Eiko & Koma have been engaged in The Retrospective Project, a multi-year, multifaceted examination of their 40-years of collaborative art-making. Key Retrospective events include presentation of Regeneration at Danspace Project in New York and elsewhere, the “living” installation Naked in Minneapolis, New York and Chicago; Residue, a visual installation at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts; and the current MCA exhibition, Time is Not Even, Space is Not Empty. Eiko & Koma are permanent residents of the United States living in New York City. 

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Idris Goodwin - Mellon Fellow in the Arts

DR304 Advanced Performance: Writing for Performance

DR200 Hip Hop Aesthetics

Cornerstone
(719)389-6637

IDRIS GOODWIN, a playwright who performs, a rapper who writes essays, a teacher who makes albums. He’s been recognized for his work across mediums by The National Endowment for the Arts, The Ford and Mellon Foundation, The New York Times and National Public Radio. His play How We Got On, developed at The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center premiered at The 2012 Humana Festival of New Plays. His latest play, Blackademics kicks off the 2012/2013 season of Chicago's MPAAC Theatre. Shorter stage works have been featured at Steppenwolf Theater, American Theater Company, Pilsbury House and The Los Angeles Theater Center. He's appeared on HBO’s Def Poetry, The Discovery Channel, and most recently, Sesame Street. These Are The Breaks, his debut collection of essays, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. An award winning educator, he’s taught at The University of Iowa, Northwestern University, and is currently a visiting instructor in performance writing at Colorado College.

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Takiyah Nur Amin

DA 311 Cultural Perspectives in Dance: Black Aesthetics in American Dancing

Cornerstone
(719)389-6637

As a prominent emerging scholar in dance studies, Takiyah Nur Amin, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor of World Dance at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.  Dr. Amin teaches courses in dance history and theory in the liberal studies curriculum, Department of Dance and College of Art and Architecture Honors Program. Takiyah earned a Ph.D. in Dance with a concentration in Cultural Studies, Certificate in Women’s Studies and Certificate in Teaching in Higher Education as a Future Faculty Fellow at Temple University. Prior to pursuing doctoral studies, Takiyah earned a BA in Dance at the State University of New York at Buffalo and an MFA in Arts Administration at Virginia Tech. Dr. Amin brings experience as a dancer, student affairs administrator, former instructor in both history and Africana studies and demonstrated excellence as a community educator to herwork at UNCC.

Dr. Amin’s scholarly and teaching interests include Black performance and aesthetics, Black feminist thought and activism, 20th century American concert dance and pedagogical concerns in the teaching of global dance traditions.  Her scholarship has been published in Dance Chronicle, the Western Journal of Black Studies, the Community Arts Network and the Journal of Pan-African Studies; Takiyah has forthcoming work in  Conversations Across the Field of Dance Studies and the Journal for the Anthropological Study ofHuman Movement. Takiyah's book chapter on the roots of jazz dance, "The African Roots of an American Art Form," is featured in the forthcoming publication, Roots and Branches of Jazz Dance (University of Florida Press,2013.)   

Jane Spencer

DR 207 Lighting Design

Cornerstone
(719)389-6637

Jane has been a freelance lighting designer since receiving her MFA in lighting design from UMKC in 1999.  She has designed lights for many theatres including the Denver Center Theatre Company, Missouri Repertory Theatre, Cleveland Playhouse, Colorado Shakespeare Festival and Theatre Aspen.  At the Denver Center she has worked on several new plays including Jesus Hates Me, The Great Wall Story and Sunsets and Margaritas.  She received a Henry Award for designing The House of the Spirits at the DCTC and a Theatre Arts Guild Award for designing Bat Boy at the Omaha Playhouse in her home state of Nebraska.  Jane has spent time touring with shows, including Kenny Rogers and Ringling Brothers and also lights exhibits at the Denver Art Museum.  Some favourite exhibitions that she lit at the museum include the German painter Daniel Richter, the photographer Robert Adams and Radar, a compilation of contemporary art donated by Kent and Vicki Logan that opened the Hamilton building in 2006.  Jane enjoys the collaborative process of creating theatre and is looking forward to helping students find their voice in the creative process. 

Trisha Lai

Choreographer and Contemporary Dance Technique

Cornerstone
(719)389-6637

Tsui-shuang Lai graduated from the Folkwang Hochschule in Germany. From1998-2004 she worked with FTS, Staedischbuehnen Muenster (Daniel Goldin) and Staatstheater Kassel (Ana Mondini).Since 2005 she has been a freelancer and has worked with: Suzanne Linke, Henrietta Horn, Malou Airaudo, Joe Alegado, Mui Cheuk Yin and Guest Dancer by Pina Bausch, Christine Brunell, Nathalie Larquet , Leonard A.Cruz, Suna Goncu, Ilona Paszthy, Capital ballet, Taipei Dance Company, Dance Forum Taipei, Assembly Dance Theatre.

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Aoi Koenig

Contemporary Dance Technique

Cornerstone
(719)389-6637

Aoi Koenig (née Funakoshi) originally hails from Chiba, Japan, where she started her classical ballet study at the age of 7.  She came to US as a high school exchange student and was introduced to many different styles of dance.  She furthered her craft at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, where she graduated Cum Laude with B. F. A. in Dance in 2000.  Since graduation, she has danced with both classical ballet and contemporary dance companies in US, Canada and Mexico, including Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company, Compania de Danza Tania Perez-Salas, Ballet Nacional de Mexico, Cas Public Production and Les Sortileges.  With them, she enjoyed performing the featured roles and toured nationally and internationally.  Since Aoi came to Colorado Springs with her husband and daughter in 2011, she has enjoyed performing with Ormao Dance Company.  She has also enjoyed teaching ballet at Ormao School.      

Monitor Mago (R. Aaron Lauritzen)

Capoeira

Cornerstone
(719)389-6637

Brazilian Capoeira is the Colorado Springs affiliate of the international organization, CapuraGinga Capoeira, formed in Mato Grosso Brazil in 1983 and headed by Brazilian master Manoel Leite, known as "Mestre Loka." Head instructor Monitor Mago (R. Aaron Lauritzen) and all other Brazilian Capoeira instructors are certified instructors for CapuraGinga Capoeira.

Mago has trained extensively with Mestre Loka and Mestre Demetrius of CapuraGinga, as well as several other notable capoeiristas from Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Mato Grosso, and Bahia, Brazil. Having lived and worked in Brazil, Mago is fluent in Portuguese and very familiar with Brazilian culture and history. Mago has significant teaching and performance experience. He has been a frequent guest instructor and performer at numerous colleges and universities. In 2002 Mago's students performed in the closing ceremonies of the Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games. 

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Dallo Yayefall

African Dance

Cornerstone
(719)389-6637

I was born in the village of Thionk Essyl in the southern Casamance region of Senegal, West Africa.  I grew up there living a traditional Diola life, fishing in the river, growing rice, gathering fruit and wild food in the forest.  Dance is a central part of my culture.  Every major event in the lives of our people is celebrated with dance.  

In early 2010 I began teaching weekly classes at the Casa Verde Common House near downtown Colorado Springs, and I offer monthly dance workshops at the Marmalade studio at the Smokebrush.   I have performed at several events on the Colorado College campus, for the Imagination Celebration and the “What If” festival. 

I love teaching African dance because it allows me to share the beauty of my culture with others.